SJPD reports overall decrease in crimes in 2022

Jenna Wilson, St. Joseph News-Press, Mo.
·2 min read

Feb. 10—The St. Joseph Police Department saw crime rates fall across several categories in 2022, but officers aren't slowing down in battling the crimes that remain a problem.

Though it was an overall decrease in index crimes, police did see increases in certain areas, but only by a slight percentage.

"Overall, there were some highs and some lows, but that's what we see every year," Interim Police Chief David Hart said. "We saw some increases in things like arson and aggravated assault, but the increases we saw were in the tens or below, nothing huge."

According to police, the increase in aggravated assault is mainly a result of domestic violence, which law enforcement is working with partner agencies to fix.

"We rely a lot on our partner agencies to help us find the root cause of crimes such as this one," Hart said. "These aren't typically the types of crimes we're going to go out and be proactive with, so we partner with agencies who can help families affected by these crimes, which we believe will make a difference."

SJPD also saw a slight increase in motor vehicle theft by 5%, which officers said has impacted the increase in other crimes like aggravated assault.

"This is still a concerning problem for us and we need people to lock their vehicles," Hart said. "Don't leave any weapons in your vehicle. We're losing a lot of guns from unlocked cars and now we have a lot of guns in the hands of people who shouldn't have them, leading to other crime acts."

Hart said the police department is utilizing the public safety tax and working to get back to a full staff so they can better serve members of the community.

"Everybody who has been victimized by a crime is important to us," he said. "If we have more than one, that just isn't acceptable. We're doing everything we can, including hiring and making things more streamline for the people. We're revamping our online reporting and our telephone reporting. All of these systems do get investigated, so continue to believe in us the way we believe in our community."

The police department is hopeful to start bringing in more officers as soon as this year, but Hart said it will take time to ensure that proper training is done.

"We want to manage expectations with the public," Hart said. "This isn't a snap your fingers and the police department is back to fully staffed. To hire and train a brand new person takes almost a year, so it'll be a slow process but we will work to stop crime the best we can as we wait for more officers to join us. We want to hire the right people and not cut corners."

Jenna Wilson can be reached at jenna.wilson@newspressnow.com.